Newspaper-vending machine.



910.959,959. 'PATBNTED JULY 9, 1997. D. H. STEWART.

NEWSPAPER VENDING MAGHINE. `APPLIdAfrIoN FILED mlm 22. 199e.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IN1/Enron l PATENTED JULY 9, 1907.

D. H. STEWART.

NEWSPAPER VBNDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22. 1906.

LSH ETS-SEBBT Z.

PATENTED JULY 9, 1907.

D. H. STEWART, NEWSPAPER VENDING MACHINE.

AEPLIOATION FILED JUNE 22. 1908.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

" of the` outermost one of the papers in the pack, a coin"l UNITEDSTATES `.DAVID ll. STEWART, OF FITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

NEWSPAPER-veniamo MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9, 1907.

Applicant nea me 22,1906. serial No. 322,850.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAvm Il. STEWART, residing at Pittsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certainnew and useful Newspaper-Vending Machine, of which the following is aspecilcation.

This invention, which relates generally to improvements in that type ofcoin released vending machines for selling newspapers, magazines and thelike, more particularly seeks to provide a machine of this typeespecially adapted for outdoor use, such for example, as depots,suburban railway stations, hotels and other public places, of a simpleand inexpensive character in which the coperative parts are-especiallydesigned for positively ejecting a single paper or article to be vendedat a time and having such adjustment whereby they can be quickly set fordischarging the ordinary weekly form or the heavy Sunday or extra formsof newspapers.

My invention also comprehends an improved construction of vendingmachine having ejecting mechanism and actuating means therefor, soarranged that only a single paper can be fed out at each operation, inwhich is included a follower or presser means that engages the bulk orpackage of papers contained in the machine in full contact with eachother and in such manner whereby the frictional Contact of the severalpapers in the pack is reduced to the minimum and the position of all theremaining papers -in the pack is not disturbed by the foremost one ofthe papers as it` is being fedfrom the machine to the purchaser.

This invention also comprehends a means for sustaining the papers ina'package or bulk, ends up, a carriage for positively feeding the bulktoward the discharging slot, a means for gripping the lower end releasedmechanism permitting an operation of the paper gripping means., in whichis included devices for controlling the movement ofthe paper grippingmeans, whereby to provide for a predetermined thrust or action of thelever operated by the buyer and'for controlling the coin slet to preventinsertionof a` coin until after a paper has been fed out and thedeliveryfully described, pointed out in the appended claims' andillustrated in the drawings in whichz- Figure l, is'a perspective viewillustrating my in'- `vention as set up for use. Fig. 2, is alongitudinal section thereof, the pressing carriage or follower beingheld back to its inoperative position, fand the top thrown back to admitthe placing of a stack vof papers into the receiving compartment. Fig.3, is a similar view, the carriage or follower being in its operativelposition and the delivery mechanism shown in the 9, which shows thenormal position of the detent for locking the delivery mechanism fromaction. Fig. 8, is a similar view showing the pusher device actuated toengage the coin for releasing the pawl from the delivery roll. Fig. 9,is a horizontal section of the coin actuating mechanism. Fig. 10, is atransverse section thereof o`n the line 10-`-1O on Fig. 7. Fig. 11, is adetail plan view of the presser member 20 and the ,combined pull andlock member 2fr-27, and Fig. 12,

is a transverse section thereof. l In the practical arrangement of myinvention, l provide an external housing of suitable ornamental shape,which may be made up of heavy sheet metal or light castings, and ifdesired, the front wall shaped for containing advertisements or otherdescriptive matter, and when used for suburbanplaces, may form aconvenient space for train time tables, etc. f

At the lower edge the front has a delivery slot that extends nearly thefull width thereof and is sufficiently wide to permit of the dischargeof daily and 'weekly papers when folded, it being understood that whenutilized for selling magazines and like bulky matter,

the shape of the'casing and the delivery slot are prol kportionedaccordingly.

The casing is provided with a vertically disposed compartment 2, adaptedto receive the papers in bulk which is'normally closed by a hinged andlocked cover 3. The bottom 4 of the saidv compartment is mounted onsuitable guides for a' limited longitudinal adjustment, which iseffected by the adjusting screws 5 5 mounted on the rear endof'thecasing, see Fig. 2, in

such manner-that byfeeding them inwardly or outwardly, the front end ofthe said bottom 4 can be set relatively to the front vertically disposedwall 6-of the compartment 'and the feed roller presently referred to,wlerebyftoiwiden or restrict the outlet throat 7 from they compartmentto suit the differences in thickness of theusual folded daily papers andthe heavy Sunday or extra issues. r

By referring now'more particularly to Figs.' 2 and 3 it will benoticedthe lower end of the front wall 6 does not extend down to the plane ofthe bottom 4 whereby to provide transverse space between the said bottomend of the wall and 1e adjustable bottom 4to receive the feed roller8,which, in the practical construct-ion',

may consist of a core of wood or may he cast metal, and

this roller 8 has end spindles suitably mounted in bearings` in thecasing sides and one of which extends outside ol' the casing to receivean actuating crank handle f l() as clearly shown.

holding compartment, has a flexible covering 80, such, for example, asthiek rubber belting which is fixedly mounted on the core und -theI saidcovering carries picker spurs or brads .l1 that are driven through tbebelting from the undersideto project suliiciently beyond the perimeterof the roller to prick the papers sul licien tly to pull them down without danger of tearing or apprcciably mutilating them. l

As shown, the roller is projected with its upper rear edge into thelower front end of the paper compart mont to engage with the outermostone of the pack of papers, to pull it down through the discharge throat,the width of which as before stated, is governed to suit the thicknessof the papers to be sold by adjusting the bottom plate 4, and the saidthroat at the lower edge has a transverse friction roller bearing member12 that opposes the delivery roller 8 and discharges onto a smoothdownwardly inclined slide board 13 that leads the paper down to thedischarge slot 1 and to provide fora proper feeding of the paper afterit has been started down by the delivery roller, the front wall of thepaper compartment is faced with a smooth metal plate that extends downover the paper impingingface of the roller at which point it is formedwith a series of slots 15 for the passage of the pins on the roller, asbest shown in Fig. 5, by reference to which it will be also seen theslotted end of the plate extends diagonally downward parallel with theguide or slide board 13 to the discharge slot 1. By arranging theseveral parts just described, in the manner stated, frictionalresistance on the paper after it has been started down by the deliveryroller is rc`- duced to the minimum and danger of tearing or mu- 40tilating the paper is positively overcome since each longitudinal row ofteeth or prongs o'n the roller engage the paper for a short period only,since the paper is continually drawn off the spurs by reason of itsdeflection by the slotted face plate.

Heretofore in the practical experiment with vending machines in whichthe papers are fed forward to a delivery means, adapted to grip theforward paper and in which the papers are being fed to the deliverymechanism and held in a vertical plane ends up and o0 in which afollower orpresser means held to engage with practically the entire rearor back face of the paper bulk and in which the pull on the papers hasbeen at the lower or upper edge only, it has been demonstrated that itis impossible by reason of the frietional contact with each other of-the large number of papers usually held in bulk, to feed the paperssingle from off the package or bulk, or without danger of tearing andmutilating the same and also choking up the feed devices, rondering themachines unreliable and frequent loss of the price of the paper to thosedesiring to obtain them. In my invention I have especially provided forovercoming this serious objection in the use of newspaper vendingmachine in that I feed the papers and hold them in such positionrelatively to the delivery mechanism that a miss in delivery is almost.lhe roller 8, which is of the full Width of the paper impossible andthe delivery of more than one paper at a time or the choking up of themachine is absolutely avoided. For such purpose I provide a followermeans operating under spring pressure arranged to effect a positive.compression on the paper bulk only at that point where the delivery rollengages the same and a light and flexible. pressure of the remainingportion of the paper bulk sullicient to only sustain the said bulk ofpapers in a proper vertical position.

The follower mechanism is in the nature of a cross bar 20 of the fullwidth of the paper compartment which is held to slide over the bottomplate 4 and whose pressure opposes, or in other words, is directlyagainst that part of the delivery roll that projects into the lowerfront end of the paper compartment, and a flexible metal plate 2l thatis fixedly connected to the front end of the bar 20 and projectsvertically therefrom so as to lightly rcst,under a fiexible springpressure, against the upper part of the pack of papers whereby tosustain the said upper parts of the papers in loose contact with eachother and in such manner that so far as the upper portion of the papersare concerned there is practically no frictional resistance therebyexerted against the front paper as it is being pulled down by thedelivery roll.

The cross bar is held pressed forward against the lower 9 0 end of thepaper pack by a pair of stout'coil springs 22-22 disposed one at eachside of the casing, which are made fast at their lower. ends to cordsconnected to the cross bar or follower and which take around guidepulleys 25-25 on the iront end of the machine as clearly 95 shown inFig. 2.

For conveniently pulling back the follower and holdin'g it back duringthe operation of filling the paper compartment, the same has a handle 26and dogs 27-27 which engage holding lugs 28-28 that are secured to thebottom 4 of the casing, as shown.

So far as described, the manner in which'my apparatus is used is bestexplained as follows: To put it in condition for vending, the operatorunlocks and swings back the cover which opens the top and'back of thecasing sufcient to enable him to pull back the pressure follower andlock it to its back position. The bulk of papers which have lbeenpreviously properly folded are dropped with their folded edges down,into the holding compartment and shoved-up against the front wall ofsaid compartment to bring the foremost paper in position to be engagedby the delivery roller, after which the follower is released so it movesup against the rear end of the paper bulk and the cover is then swungdown locked. By giving the roller a rotation or quick forward rotaryaction, which is done by manipulation of the crank handle, the rollerengages the front paper and pulls it down through the discharge throatand slot, see Fig, 5, it being understood that in the adjustment of mymachine, the circumference of the roller is substantially equal thelength of the folded paper to be discharged, thus providing for asubstantially continuous grip on the paper its entire length during theact of discharging, although that is not necessary since a quick rotarymotion of the roller will pull the paper 12' down so it projects beyondthe discharging slot from whence, if desired, it may be`pulled out byhand.

Since my machine is morel particularly intended for use in public andexposed places, means must be prof vided for bringing the deliverymechanism into a 130 Joe,

proper normal position to vinsure a proper subsequent 1 operation, toprovide against. the same readily getting `out of order or from beingdisorganized b y tampering, from turning `the roller backward andalsofor permitting the movement thereof only after theproper token hasbeen deposited to pay for the paper.

A backward movement ofthe' [eed roller is prevented by means of' avratchetdisk 30 mounted on the rim ofthe said roller with which engagesthe stoplpawl 3l, as

clearly shown in Figs. S andl0, by reference to which' it will be secuthat the said ratchet has Aa locking collar 32 provided with a singlelockingfnolch 33 in its peripheral edge which is so disposed relativelyto the crank handle so that when the crank handle is turned to zero orits normal position, the said notch will registerwith a spring actuateddetent 34 pivot ally mounted on a bracket 35 and provided with a heelportion 36 that projccls over the discharge. end of the coin chute 37which extends up to and is adapted to receive the coin when it isinserted through the coin slot 37 formed at the top side of the casingabove the crank handle.

39 indicates a pull bar, spring held to its inner or normal position,which slides in suitable. guides and is provided with a slot that formsa pocket 40 and which is freely movable in the space between'the heel ofthe locking detent and the discharge end of the coin chute and is soarranged that when a coin is dropped into the slot the coin will enterthe pocket in the puller and rest upon the heel of the detent.

Adjacent to the discharge end of the coin slot is an inclined abutment4l which is so arranged relatively to the coin slot, the pull bar andthe locking detent, that when the said pull bar is drawn outwardly, thecoin will engage the said abutment and be deflected r downwardlysufficient `to depress the heel end of the detent 'lo lift its other endout of a locked engagement with theloeking collar 32 held to turn withthe delivery roller and the said collar, as will be noticed by referenceto Figs. 7 and 8, is provided with a cam lug 32 which, the instant thatthe delivery roller vbegins to rotate, engages a pawl on the pull bar,forces said bar further outward whereby to discharge the coin from thepocket in the pull bar, thereby releasing the said pull bar andpermitting it to be returned to its normal and inwardly set positionwhich is done through the medium of the spring 44, and the pull bar hasits finger member slidably connected withy the other or coin holding endof said bar, and said finger member has a' collar to limit the outwardpull of the pull bar under finger action so that the coin is not droppeduntil after the delivery roller has been started, when the cam lugthereon finishes the outward thrust of the pull bar and causes the cointo be dropped from the heel end of the detent,

The pull bar projects through the side of the casing 'and has a thumbpiece 46 for heilig gripped by the operator when he grasps the crankhandle, whereby to draw the said pull bar outward.

The proper adjustment of the mechanism, so the same will deliver apaper, is designated by a suitable indicator plate on the outside of thecasing which has a zero mark. When the Crank handle is down in line withthe said zero mark, to obtain a paper, it is only necessary to drop thecoinA in the slot, then with the thumb,

to. draw out the pull or coinconti-,oilingbar` whereby to trip thedetent 34, and then to. turn ythe crank handle in the directionindicated by tliefarrow on Fig. 1.4

47 designates a plate which acts asa gate to close the lcoinl slot andthe said platelismoyable inside the coin casing and is pivot-allymounted onV the bracket 35 and is normally forced outwardly, through themedium of' the spring 49, which car-ries a pendent heel 50 that engageswith an lannular cam flange 5l, mounted on the core of the deliveryroller and which extends nearly l lt will be manifest, by reference tothe drawings,l

particularly Figs. 7 and 8, that by reason of the coin mechanism justdescribed, that should the operator, by giving a quick, partial rotationto the delivery roller and not vbring the crank handle to the normal orzero point, that the slot will remain closed and therefore the machinecannot be operated again until the crank handle has been turned tocomplete its rotation and brought j to the zero point, at which time thelocking detcnt has again engaged the locking notch and the deliveryroller is thereby held from being further actuated until thel propercoin has been inserted in the coin slot.

In the drawings, I have shown a locking detent, a pull bar and thedischarge end of the coin slot, relatively so arranged, that themachinecan be operated by a single coin which may be a penny or a nickel but itis manifest that if the machine is intended to sell a paper of the valueof two cents or a magazine of the value of ten cents, that the saidparts can be readily modified so that it will require the insertion oftwo pennies or two nickels, one after the other, -sothat the two willrest and forma link between the heel of the locking detent and theabutment adjacent the lowerend of the coin slot, it being alsounderstood that when thus arranged, the pocket in the pull bar is madeof sufficient depth to properly hold the two coins, edge to edge, in avertical plane.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, it is believed the complete construction andmanner of operation of my invention will be readily understood.

It will be observed that under normal conditions the f delivery rollercannot be actuated but should at a previous operation, the crank handlenot having been turned sufficiently to reach the normal or zero point,it can be turned finally only sufficient to reach the zero point andwhich would not be ample to feed down the paper so that the same couldbe withdrawn from the discharge slot, since the discharge slot l is aconsiderable distance away from the throat from which the papers yarefed by the delivery roller. Again, the roller is positively held frombeing turned backward, thereby preventing, by reason of tampering withthe machine, the clogging of the discharge throat and since the coinslot remains closed -nntil the crank handle has been turned to thenormal or zero point, the purchaser cannot lose his coin by reason ofthe slot being open and delivering mechanism not being in properposition to receive the same to deliver the paper in return therefor.

While the specific means shown, the spring detent 34, illustrates asimple and inexpensive device for locking the roller 8 from rotation, Idesire it understood that 1 do not limit myself to such detent devices,since the same may be readily modified or varied without departing fromthe scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is:

1. In a vending machine, a receptacle for holding the'v papers inbpik,'havlng a discharge throat that extends down below the lower frontend ot the said receptacle, the receptacle including an adjustablebottom having a roller bearing at the front end below the axial line ofthe feed roller, the face plate on the front walls of the receptaclehaving a bottom extension that forms the top wail of the dischargethroat', said plate having vertical slots in line with the bottom of thereceptacle, the feed roller axially journaied in the horizontal planeabove the bottom of the receptacle and in front of the face plate, saidroller having fingers that project through the slots in the face plateand a presser device for forcing the lower face of thev papers againstthe roller fingers, all being arranged substantially as shown anddescribed.

2. ln a vending machine of thecharacter described, in combination with adelivery mechanism arranged to grip the outermost one of a series orpack of papers at the lower end thereof; of a presser followercomprising a solid lower portion that exerts pressure against the paperpack in line with the delivery mechanisms and a iiexible upper portionthat flexibly sustains the upper end of the paper pack in a verticalposition.

3. In combination with the casing having a compartment to receive thepapers in series and to sustain them in a vertical position on theirfolded ends, a discharging throat at the lower front end of .thecompartment, a delivery roll mounted in front ot the discharge throatand having its peripheral face movable through said throat to engagewith the outermost one ot the papers; of a presser follower comprising atransverse bar movable over the bottom ot the paper compartment againstthe lower part ot the back of the paper buik, spring and cableconnections joined with thev said cross bar for normally forcing the barforward and a means for holding`the bar locked to its rearmost position,for the purposes speciiied.

4. In a vending machine of the character described, the combination withthe paper holding compartment, adapted to receive the bulk of papers,end up, said compartment having a discharge at itsfront end, the casinghaving a.

delivery slot, a chute that extends from the throat to the slot, adelivery roller having transverse rows of peripheral spurs, that projectthrough thev throat, al face plate that extends down over the front ofthe discharge throat und extends parallel with the chute to the deliveryslot, said plate having slots through which the roller spurs project,and a means for rotatingl the roller, as set forth.

l A newspaper vending machine having a compartment for receiving aseries of papers in bulk and in a vertical position, said compartmenthaving a discharge at the lower front end, a spur roller mounted infront of the throat, having a series of projecting lingers, a slottedguard plate located between the rolle'r and tbe papers and having slotsfor the finger of the rollers-to project through, whereby to engage theoutermost one of the series of papers held in the receptacle, and apresser follower that engages the lower end of a series of papers, saidfollower having movement in the horizontal plane and in axial alinementwith the feed roller.

DAVID H. STEWART.

Witnesses:

Jox-IN H. Corp, WILLIAM HAYwAnD.

